"Laughter through tears...

...is my favorite emotion."

In case you didnt know we are HUGE Lost fans. Several years ago, Daniel had a loan assistant whose husband bought her the first 2 seasons of Lost for a Christmas present, and she and he stayed up several nights in a row and watched them. She was obsessed, and brought them in for Daniel saying we had to watch. I remember not wanting to watch cuz it didnt look like my kinda show. I'm not big on drama/suspense/sci-fi. I am totally a romantic comedy/chick flick type.  But we watched it. And pulled several all nighters in a row watching all of the episodes to that point.  Waiting months in between each season was torture. And waiting each week to get more story was even more so. But after these years, it has now come to a close. And while it didnt give us answers to several of the "what the?"s we asked, Daniel and I loved how it concluded. I even cried. And I'm totally not a TV show crier. Certain movies (Charlie, Steel Magnolias, My Life) I can not watch without the water works. But a TV show? Please! But watching the moments of connection the characters had, and the coming full circle, not to mention the comedic tones amid the emotion, well I was weeping. Over a TV show. Sheesh. But I LOVED IT! And am now in mourning that the story has come to an end. Whatever shall we do on Tuesday nights now?

Thievery

Yesterday there was a knock on the door, and when I opened it up there was a package addressed to me. Kinda surprised as I wasnt expecting anything in the mail, I opened it up. Inside was a bag. A really nice handbag. I was very confused though cuz I had not ordered a bag, and my dearest darling Daniel knows that I'm kind of particular, so he would have asked my opinion before buying something like that. Besides there are a bajillion other gift ideas that would come before a bag. 

I happen to be one of the "odd" females who isnt obsessed with bags. I'm just not a bag kinda girl. I stick my license, my debit card and my phone in my pocket, and I'm good to go. And Daniel knows this, so I was suspicious. Therefore, I called him. 

He was just as baffled as me as to where this bag came from. So I say, "perhaps its a promotional gift." Daniel says, "so this company is gonna just send out bags to random people? Besides, where did they get your info?" Well of course I dont know, but it sounded good to me- a free and very nice bag--I'm all for it. No need to be suspicious- it is what it is! Even if I'm not a bag kinda girl- it's nice- and FREE! 

Daniel, being the smarter half of our relationship, decides to investigate.  And you know what he finds out? Well first- the bag is being sold for a hundred bucks. ONE HUNDRED DOLLARS! (dr evil style if you please.) For a bag. For crying out loud- it seems (in my humble opinion- and its probably just cuz I'm not into bags) that a bag is made with fabric- and not a whole lot of it. But sorry,  that's a tangent I'm not meaning to go off on--(if you happen to be a bag kinda person and have spent more or less than this- I'm sure its lovely and probably a great investment! ;)) 

So back to Daniel investigating.. He finds out that it was charged to one of our cards by some suspicious email address not belonging to either one of us, nor anyone we know. So my free bag, was actually NOT free. Daniel looks into that account and finds some other charges that neither of us had placed, so he calls and gets things taken care of. And now we are returning the not free bag and getting a new card. 

So here's the thing, the card is in Daniels name, not mine, but the bag was shipped to Kimmy Jackson, not Daniel Jackson(Daniel Jackson? he's a genius!). And that card is in Daniels wallet which he has with him at all times. So how the fetch did someone get that card number, but my info? I'm rather disturbed by this. And hello- why ship it to our address? If you've stolen someones card number and are placing an order- why ship it here, where someone might be smart enough to realize that we didnt order no stinking badgers and now we are gonna change that stolen info before you can do any more damage to that account?  I, for one, am glad Daniel is smart enough to look into it. I was just gonna go skipping on my way with what I assumed was a promotional gift. I guess I can say I am a bit naive. Daniel completes me. ;)

(Tweeked movie trivia 4 times over, anyone, anyone?)

(make that 5)

Peace and Quiet

So tonight is the father and sons camp out in our ward. Daniel went in early to work so he could take off early, so that he isnt pitching a tent in the dark like he's done in the past. Toast, Jamus and the Bennie-boo were outta control with excitement. As soon as Daniel walked in the door Toast yells, "ITS THE CAMP OUT!" And James and Ben start yelling their little heads off going "YAAAAAAAY YAAAAAAY YAAAAAAAAY!" It was nuts. They dont even get THAT excited about Christmas. But Im so happy they are going to have some male bonding time. That means Kylie and I get a little girls night out.
I always loved when my dad and brothers would go on the father and sons campout, growing up. It meant my sister, mom and I would get to have some girl time. Our tradition included some Parkers Drive Inn, a good movie, and me getting to sleep on my dads side of their bed at night.
Kylie has some different plans for us. As soon as she gets home from school, we are going out to have our feet pampered and our toenails painted. After which she wants to go to Target and Kohls for some shopping. Then she plans for us to head to Olive Garden for dinner. After that she thinks she is staying up to watch a movie, then she plans on sleeping on her daddys side of the bed for the night.
Its gonna be a fun night, but I gotta say, I am LOVING the peace and quiet for the moment. Its never this quiet during the day with those little rascals of mine. And to top it off my dearest darling Daniel gets to take care of their every little need for the next 20 hours.............. all by himself. BWAHAHAHAHA!

An angel to watch over me

Today I was brought to tears when I received a package in the mail from my dear mother. She wrote a sweet little note that had me choked up, and had sent a little book called "An Angel to Watch Over Me," which got the tears flowing. Its a little book written by a very talented Sally DeFord that goes like this:

"She watched by my cradle through long, sleepless nights,

She taught me to pray as she knelt by my side,

She guarded my childhood, and all through the years,

She echoed my laughter, she counted my tears.

In the arms of my mother, I came to believe

That God sent an angel to watch over me.

She taught me the meaning of courage and faith,

She taught me to live with the Lord as my strength,

She taught me to follow the pathway He marked,

She guided my steps when the journey grew dark,

And I know there were dangers that I could not see,

But God sent an angel to watch over me.

She taught me to serve with a spirit that sings,

She taught me to seek after heavenly things,

And because of her love and her kindness and care,

Because of the place that I hold in her prayers,

And because of her goodness, I still believe

That God sent an angel to watch over me."

My mom sent this book to give praise to and encourage her daughters in their mothering, but the reason it got me chocked up is because this describes how i feel about her.  She is most definitely an angel who has watched over me, supported me, encouraged, cared for, cried with, taught, nurtured, laughed with, protected, and most importantly loved. If there is any good in me, its because of her.

A few weeks ago we had a young womens activity- a getting to know you kind of thing, and we filled out a survey and then shared our answers. One of the questions was "what do you love most about your mom?" I didn't even have to think about it. My mother and I have had many talks on the topic of talents, and we both feel like we must have slept in the day they were handing those out in heaven. We have talked about so many individuals we know and their incredible talents and their ability to create beautiful things. One of her sisters has a gift with flowers- she creates the most beautiful arrangements. I swear she must have helped create the garden of Eden. Another sister is just so smart and kind and plays the piano beautifully. Her sister in law is the most amazing chef you could imagine. She creates the most delicious meals with such little effort. Her daughter in laws are so amazing with crafting and decorating and they have such a gift of patience with their children. Her eldest daughter is a master seamstress, and creates the most beautiful dresses for her daughters. And we have so many friends and extended family members who all have these and many other talents as well.Its hard not to be envious.

But my mom has one of the most incredible talents/gifts and it's one I desire like no other. She has the gift of charity. She is able to love others purely and unconditionally. Even when she knows the skeletons in the closet, she doesn't let that taint her view and her love for the person. And its not just her kids that she is that way with. Its everyone she knows. She doesn't pass judgement on people. She loves. I so want to be like that. Whenever I point this out to her though- She says she isn't like that. (she's also very humble) But those who know her- know she really is. 

Her testimony and her faith are incredible. Anytime one of my siblings and I are in need of a miracle- we ask my mom to pray. We know her prayers are heard and answered because she has this exceeding great faith. 

How extremely grateful I am for the wonderful mother I have. It is one of my greatest hopes, to be the kind of mother that she is. 

 

A Post for Toast

Our Toasty boy keeps loosing his teeth. The past 2 months he's lost 4. The tooth fairy was pretty good for 3 of those, but the fourth, not so good. Toast woke up and searched high and low for his compensation, and even had his sister help him search, but when the search proved to be futile he came into our room with the saddest look saying, "the tooth fairy doesn't like me." I told him the tooth fairy was in China all night long, and didn't have time to make it to Arizona before he woke up. This little episode repeated itself 4 times. F-O-U-R!  4!! You would think Daniel and I could pull it together, but once we head to bed the only thing we can think about is sleep. Finally the tooth fairy managed to get the job done, and even doubled the $$ received. So the Toast was very pleased indeed. So pleased that he bragged it up on the drive to school, telling our little friend all about his woes. She replies, "yeah, that happens." And she told Toast about the time that the tooth fairy didn't make it to her house for 3 days, and she got triple the $$$! Hearing her tale made my day. Its good to know the tooth fairy runs late at other homes too.